Gymnastics Closes Regular Season Friday at Central Michigan

Friday, March 13

Mount Pleasant, MI

6 p.m.

Ball State University

Central Michigan

Carley Stalder on floor at Maryland Quad

Gymnastics Closes Regular Season Friday at Central Michigan

March 11, 2026 | Gymnastics

Ball State Gymnastics (13-7; 4-1 MAC) at Central Michigan (12-2; 5-0 MAC)
Meet 11 - at Central Michigan	Friday, March 13 at 6 p.m. ET Live Results \| ESPN+
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» THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE GYMNASTICS: The Ball State gymnastics team will be battling for its third Mid-American Conference regular season title in the last four years Friday, when it travels to Central Michigan for a 6 p.m. league dual ... The Chippewas currently top the league standings with a 5-0 MAC mark, while the Cardinals sit at 4-1 ... With a win, Ball State will tie both CMU and Western Michigan, which ended its MAC slate at 5-1, for the 2026 regular season crown.

» A QUICK LOOK AT BALL STATE:
- The Cardinals enter Friday's meet at Central Michigan ranked second in the MAC and tied for 35th nationally with a team NQS of 195.263 ... Last time out, Ball State earned a season-best 195.975 at the Maryland Quad (March 7) and had at least one individual winner in all four events ... So far this season, BSU gymnasts have captured 26 of a possible 40 individual event victories ... In addition, the Cardinals have six individual all-around wins thanks to senior Zoe Middleton.
- Ball State currently leads the MAC and ranks 32nd nationally with a beam NQS of 48.847 ... The Cardinals have scored a season-high 49.250 on beam twice this year, with the first coming at Northern Illinois (Jan. 24) and the second at Western Michigan (Feb. 22) ... Juniors Ashley Szymanski and Delaney McMahon are currently first (9.865 NQS) and second (9.860 NQS), respectively, in the MAC with each tying the program record with a score of 9.925 at WMU.
- The Cardinals top event by NQS score is floor at 48.909 which is third in the MAC and 42nd nationally ... BSU's gymnasts scored a season-high 49.200 on floor at the Pitt Quad (Feb. 27), led by a 9.900 from Middleton.

» A QUICK LOOK AT CENTRAL MICHIGAN:
- The Chippewas enter Friday's meet ranked first in the MAC and 33rd nationally with a team NQS of 195.468 ... CMU's top score this season is a 196.075 in a home win over Kent State on Feb. 13.
- Central Michigan is one of the nation's top bars teams, ranking 18th nationally with an NQS of 49.096 ... CMU's Lia Kmieciak leads the MAC and ranks 28th nationally in bars NQS at 9.900 and has scored 9.950 in the event twice this season.
- The Chippewas are also the nation's 37th-ranked floor team with a league-leading floor NQS of 48.971 ... Luciana Alvarado-Reid currently leads the league with a floor NQS of 9.885.

» MORE ABOUT NQS AND HOW IT IS USED
- The top 36 teams in the NQS rankings earn NCAA Regional berths ... Teams 1-16 are seeded by the NCAA Women's Gymnastics Committee and the remaining teams are placed geographically at one of the four regional sites, with teams 29-36 battling in first-round duals ... Included in the championship field are also 12 all-around competitors and 64 individual event specialists (all of whom are not on a qualifying team).
- In the new NQS team formula, teams can count a max five (5) home scores, with the lowest five counting if there are six or more ... All away scores will be included, with a minimum of five (5) ... Teams will drop the highest and lowest scores, and average the remaining ... Teams must compete in a minimum of nine (9) meets ... Ball State is currently dropping its 195.975 scored at the Maryland Quad (March 7) and a 193.800 at Northern Illinois (Jan. 24).
- For individuals, the NQS formula remains the same ... An individual's top six scores will count towards NQS, with at least three away scores, dropping the high and then averaging the remaining five scores.

BALL STATE NEWS AND NOTES:
» VAULTING TO THE TOP: Senior Zoe Middleton turned in the best vault by a Mid-American Conference gymnast so far this season when she scored 9.925 to win the event at last Saturday's Maryland Quad ... It was her second vault of at least 9.900 this season, and the second-best vault of her career, trailing only her 9.950 set Jan. 19, 2024, at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic.

» THE ONE AND ONLY: With her 9.900 to tie for the event win on bars at the Maryland Quad (March 7), Zoe Middleton became the first MAC gymnast this season to score 9.900-or-higher in all four events this season ... Already the first gymnasts in program history to achieve the feat, Middleton has six scores of 9.900-or-higher so far this season, raising her career total to 26 which ties Suki Pfister's (2022-25) career total for the program record.

» MORE ON MIDDLETON'S RECORDS: Zoe Middleton holds the program record in the all-around (39.750) and on bars (10.00), is tied for sixth on vault (9.950), tied for ninth on floor (9.925) and tied for 11th on beam (9.900) ... Middleton's solid gymnastics has helped the Cardinals register the top 11 team scores in program history, along with 20 of the top 22 over her career.

» MAKING IT COUNT: A 2025 First Team All-MAC selection and 2024 Second Team All-MAC honoree, Zoe Middleton enters the dual at Central Michigan having seen 152 of her 169 competitive routines count in Ball State's final team score over her illustrious career ... She owns 27 career individual event wins and 17 career all-around titles ... Of her 27 individual wins, 13 have been on floor, six have come on vault, five on bars and three on beam.

» MIDDLETON'S 2026 MAC WEEKLY HONORS: Zoe Middleton was named the MAC Specialist of the Week on Jan. 12 for her effort in Ball State's season-opener versus Rutgers and Western Michigan (Jan. 11) when she scored 9.900 on beam and 9.825 on bars ... It was her first career MAC Specialist of the Week honor ... She picked up her eighth career MAC Gymnast of the Week honor Feb. 24 for her all-around performances at the Mizzou Quad (Feb. 20) and at Western Michigan (Feb. 22) ... Middleton won the all-around title (39.225) and tied for the vault win (9.850) at WMU ... She scored 39.125 in the all-around at Mizzou, including tying for fifth on floor with a season-best score of 9.900 ... Overall, all eight of Middleton's performances counted in the final team score during the week, with six of her routines scoring 9.800-or-better.

» SPEAKING OF MAC WEEKLY HONORS: Junior Ashley Szymanski was named the MAC Specialist of the Week for the fourth time this season on Tuesday after tying for the event wins on both bars (9.900) and beam (9.875) at the Maryland Quad (March 7) ... It was her sixth career MAC Specialist of the Week honor ... Szymanski's first came Jan. 20 for her effort in the dual win over Bowling Green (Jan. 18) when she won both the bars (9.775) and the beam (9.875) competitions ...The second came on Jan. 27 after she claimed the win on bars (9.800) and placed third on beam (9.850) in the win at Northern Illinois (Jan. 24) ... The third came Feb. 17 after she scored 9.950 on bars and a career-high 9.925 on beam to win both events versus Western Michigan.

» SZYMANSKI NOT MISSING A BEAT: Two-time defending MAC individual bars champion Ashley Szymanski has won six bars titles so far this season ... Szymanski turned in back-to-back 9.950s in the second Ball State Tri (Feb. 8) and vs. Eastern Michigan (Feb. 15), which ties as the best bars score in the league this season ... Overall, she has 18 bars victories in 37 collegiate meets ... Szymanski scored a career-high 9.975 in her MAC debut Jan. 22, 2024, versus Bowling Green ... In addition, the 2025 MAC Specialist of the Year and 2024 MAC Freshman of the Year has three career 9.950s, two career 9.925s and seven career 9.900s on bars.

» SZYMANSKI ALSO ROCKS THE BEAM: Ashley Szymanski is also a staple in Ball State's beam lineup, including winning the event six times so far this season ... In fact, in the dual at Western Michigan (Feb. 22), she tied the program's individual beam record with a score of 9.925 ... That was two meets after scoring 9.900 in the dual win over Eastern Michigan (Feb. 15) ... Szymanski has scored 9.750-or-better in 29 of her 33 collegiate beam routines and has seven career beam wins ... She currently leads the MAC on beam with a NQS of 9.865.

» MORE FROM THE BEAM: Also turning in a 9.925 on beam at Western Michigan (Feb. 22) was junior Delaney McMahon who hit the mark for the second time in her collegiate career ... McMahon, who also scored 9.900 on beam vs. Eastern Michigan (Feb. 15), is currently second in the MAC with a beam NQS of 9.860 ... She has scored at least 9.725 in all 10 of her beam routines this season ... McMahon has also competed on bars for the Cardinals this season, including scoring a career-high 9.800 in the Feb. 8 tri meet with Kent State and Illinois State.

» MOLINA MAKING NOISE: Ava Molina has been solid on the floor for the Cardinals this season, ranking second in the MAC with a 9.870 NQS ... The effort included a pair of 9.900s, with the first earning her the event win versus Bowling Green (Jan. 18) ... She hit the mark again to win floor at the SEMO Quad (Feb. 1), giving her three career marks of 9.900 ... Her first was a 9.900 to win the bars competition as a freshman at Eastern Michigan (March 17, 2024) ... Overall, Molina has made a big impact for the Cardinals over the past three seasons, scoring 9.725-or-higher in 48 of her 67 competitive routines between floor, bars and beam.

» A BIG DEBUT FOR STALDER: Freshman Carley Stalder shined in her first collegiate event on Jan. 11, winning the vault competition with a score of 9.850 ... She would go on to hit the mark again at NIU (Jan. 24) and at Western Michigan (Feb. 22) to earn two more collegiate vault victories ... Stalder currently ranks second on the squad and fifth in the MAC with a 9.815 vault NQS, having scored 9.800-or-higher in five of her 10 collegiate vaults ... With her vault win on Jan. 11, Stalder became the first Ball State freshman gymnast to win an individual event in a season-opening meet since 2010 when then-freshman Nicole Allen tied for first on vault with a score of 9.700 in a Jan. 9 dual at Western Michigan ... Stalder also owns career-best scores of 9.850 on floor vs. Kent State and Illinois State (Feb. 8), along with a 9.875 on beam at NIU.

» MORE ON STALDER: Named the MAC Gymnast of the Week on Jan. 27 after claiming first on vault (9.850) and tying for the top spot on beam (9.875) in the win at Northern Illinois (Jan. 24), Carley Stalder has been a solid addition on three events for the Cardinals this season ... She has three total event victories this season, with three coming on vault and one each on bars and floor ... Last time out at the Maryland Quad (March 7), Stalder scored a career-best 9.875 to tie for the event win ... So far this season, Stalder has earned scores of 9.800-or-higher in 12 career routines.

» MAKING THE MOST OF HER SENIOR SEASON: Mary Rose Bellan has been making the most out of her senior season, including last Saturday's outing at the Maryland Quad when she tied for the event win on bars with a career-high score of 9.900 ... Over 10 meets this season, Bellan has turned in nine countable scores on bars, including a 9.875 to lead the squad at the Mizzou Quad (Feb. 20) and a 9.800 to win the event at Western Michigan (Feb. 22) ... In addition to her contributions on bars, Bellan has broken into the vault lineup this season, competing in eight of the 10 meets ... Her best vault came at WMU when she scored a career-high 9.800.

» FULL OF BALANCE: Junior Lindsay Fuller continues to be a staple on beam for the Cardinals, earning a season-best 9.825 twice and tying for the event win at the SEMO Quad (Feb. 1) ... Over 22 career beam routines, she has scored 9.700-or-higher 15 times ... Her career-best is a 9.875 to win the event at the 2025 Ball State Tri (Jan. 26).

» HITTING THE MARKS: Ball State has scored 9.800-or-better in 94 routines so far this season, including 18 scores of at least 9.900 ... The Cardinals have had 28 beam routines hit at least a 9.800, while adding 26 on floor, 22 on bars and 18 on vault ... Last season, the Cardinals produced 101 scores of 9.800-or-better with 11 scores of at least 9.900.

» RECORDS UNDER SALEEM:
- Ball State has tallied the 45 best team scores in program history under head coach Joanna Saleem … In fact, of Ball State's 49 scores of 195.450-or-higher, 47 have been set by Saleem's squads.
- Saleem's squads own the event records on all four apparatus: vault (49.375), bars (49.775), beam (49.350) and floor (49.625).
- All 50 team entries in the vault record book are held by Saleem's teams, as are 38 of 46 scores on bars, 33 of 38 scores on beam and 32 of 38 scores on floor.
- Her gymnasts own or have tied the individual program marks on vault (10.0), bars (10.0), beam (9.925), floor (9.950) and all-around (39.750).